Meet Santiago Arroyo and Jason Long of Tree Amigos Growers

Today we’d like to introduce you to Santiago Arroyo and Jason Long.

SANTIAGO: As a child, in Quito, Ecuador I was surrounded by farming. My grandparents (on one side) owned several acres of land which was used to grow potatoes and produce milk. On the other side, my grandparents were market folk. They sold produce and connected with growers in a huge wholesaler farmer’s market every week. It took 25 years after I moved to the United States for me to re-discover my passion for growing food and began to focus and treat it as a career.

In 2012, I was lucky enough to participate in the Earth Learning Farmer Apprenticeship program in Homestead FL. I wasn’t getting paid, but I drove an hour each day to be a part of what was happening. It was there that I met Jason as well as many other people that are now linked to the local food movement: Emiliano Camargo and Carolina Alzate (AMERIKUA Permaculture), Debra Iglesias (Garden Network), David Laws (Best Buds Farm), Carmen Pla (Earth Rise Education). Other members of that program moved out of Florida but continued to work in local farm initiatives wherever they landed.

JASON: At age ten, I wanted to be a farmer. When I turned 12 or 13, I knew I wanted to be an organic farmer. In my later teenage years, I started doing farm work. I also worked in construction, a local brewery, and then I went on to manage an organic garden cafe where I began to integrate myself into the local food system.

I started sourcing fresh food from local producers in Newbury, MA and began to get more and more curious about tropical fruits which are alien to the northeast. It was this curiosity that took me to South Florida. I went there looking for coconuts and instead I found love. My partner Paula (an amazing herbalist) and I have been together for about a decade now.

And yes I also found lots of coconuts and other delicious fruit I could only dream of. I was in the pilot program at Earth Learning’s Farmer Apprenticeship Program, and I managed the next group of students including Santiago, Carmen and a few other people that have become lifelong friends.

SANTIAGO and JASON: At the end of 2012 Jason, David, Carmen and Santiago were lucky enough to meet Nicolas Chalifour. He bought a 5-acre piece of land in Davie, and we all started Treehugger Organic Farms. We ran that farm for 4.5 years with a focus on building community.

Fresh, organic food was always the main connector. We also had a lot of gatherings of all sorts: anti-GMO rallies, movie nights, farmer’s markets with live music, agriculture programs for the Autism Society of Broward, and countless other events that made us a tight-knit and involved community. The land was sold in 2017 due to Nic’s ongoing health concerns.

At this point, Jason had been on our own for a year and had already started Tree Amigos Growers. We were renting the nursery at Treehugger Farms even after the land got sold. Little by little, the new tenants took over and we no longer felt that this was the location we wanted for what we were planning to do with Tree Amigos Growers.

A friendly and industrious neighbor 10 minutes down the road, Larry Maurer, offered his private, agriculturally zoned home for Jason and I to restart our nursery business. We were grateful, and since we knew him for a few years, we decided to take his offer. This is the place we are now currently in operation 10900 SW 48 St Davie FL 33328.

Land and food security are two issues that came to the forefront after the land that was Treehugger Organic Farms was sold. As a result, Tree Amigos Growers’ main goal has become food security, and we accomplish this by educating families to grow their own food in their backyards.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The road has been relatively smooth once I discovered organic agriculture/permaculture. I fell in love with it, and every step has been a valuable lesson.

That being said, some struggles we have experienced are:
– Learning to grow food in hostile environments: rocky soils, extreme weather, primitive tools, etc.

– Education has been, and while it was not a struggle per se, it definitely took multiple trial and error plantings of everything before we began to develop a pattern and organization of proper planting, maintenance, harvesting, etc.

Book learning was easy, gardening/farming in the tropics in the real world is intense. (six months between Treehugger and Tree Amigos being created we grew spring mix in the summer @ Sun Fresh Farm and Ranch. It changed my view of what was possible in terms of growth in the most heat intense and rainy part of the year).

– Losing all our plants in the greenhouse (twice). Two different years, two different hurricanes, no insurance. It’s a true testament to the resilience of what we have been building, and it speaks volumes of our community’s continued support.

– Having to move out of the land we worked and built for almost five years. This was the toughest lesson. Its hard to not get attached to a piece of land, especially when all your time, energy and love go into building it up. Seeing new tenants slowly tear up everything you did was not pretty.

We watched for six months as everything around us changed (into a regular ornamental nursery operation), fields covered with rock fill, plant species ripped out, all while we were trying to run an organic greenhouse operation,

Tree Amigos Growers – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Santiago and Jason: We both do everything including: building the greenhouse, preparing the fields, purchasing all materials that we sell and track inventory, keep the books, seed plants, grow the plants, teach the workshops, sell (at the greenhouse and plant shows), bag soil, design the layout of our store, build racks for plants, do promotional videos, run our website and social media and lots more.

To be fair, we do have an accountant. My brother helps a lot with the website, and we recently hired a part-timer (Danny Gaviria) who has been a blessing at the nursery. He is dedicated, focused, and has lots of love for the plants. We also have a good friend (Ricky Lopez – Garden of Abundance) taking charge of the main production garden now. He runs a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program. The garden is lush with plants that we start at the nursery and people are happy to receive fresh produce.

In the near future, our friends David and Daniella will be running a cut flower production farm on site. The name of their business is ‘Best Buds,’ and I love it because they truly will be growing amazing budding plants hehe and they are our best buds. We are known for the quality of product and quality of service.

As a business, we are most proud of how far we have come in two years. We also love talking gardens and plants, so that transmits readily to all our customers. Creativity comes naturally with gardening, and we use every moment to inspire ourselves and others to create ecological systems that mimic nature. Nature is pure creativity. We are also very proud to be working with Ghee Miami, an amazing restaurant. Chef Niven hired us to build two farms in two different locations and is now harvesting fresh produce for both of his restaurant locations. Ghee fills us with pride for sure.

What sets us apart from others is our attention to detail and the specific information we provide to our customers. Anyone who has never gardened before, once they leave Tree Amigos Growers, will have a good grasp of the basics of gardening, and they also have our full support behind them. We make ourselves available through our social media, email, and phone, to answer any small or big questions a grower might have. For bigger questions we schedule consultations.

We have five stars on facebook and google right now. We are proud of that and always conscious that we got it because we love our customers and because our customers value what we have to offer. Our goal is to continuously improve and delight. The day we see our first (less than a 5-star review) we will probably have to re-evaluate our lives and find an alternative career, hahahaha! We take our customer service very serious!

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I am a believer in luck. I also truly believe that I must keep my eyes open and be ready to take advantage of these lucky streaks. When I was young, I relied completely on luck and instinct to take me where I needed to go.

Now that I have a son, I trust my instinct and sit with it until I can develop a good plan. Time management is crucial for me if I want to spend any time with my newborn (Felix) and my wife (Carmen). I hear myself as I write this and realize that I am finally becoming a responsible adult at the tender age of 37 hahaha that’s how it goes

A question that was on the old questionnaire link was how I define success. I am going to answer that here because it is a central teaching of permaculture (3 Ethics) and something we take to heart when we make any decision.

In order to be at balance we always take into account:
-Environmental: The diversity of insects and other wildlife that we have attracted to the farm by the simple fact of farming has been amazing. Clean water systems, clean composting, healthy animals (yes there are many), and an aesthetically pleasing farm is a good indicator of environmental success.

-Social: The relationships around me define success. If they are flourishing and constantly improving (customers, friends, family, landowner, coworkers), then we are on a good path.

-Economic: being able to provide for my family is important. Doing it by doing what I love to do is a blessing. Being able to share that with y friends and extended family is a big dream.

Pricing:

• Veggies, herbs, flowers, and medicinal seedlings start at $1 !

Contact Info:

• Address: 10900 SW 48 St. Davie/Fort Lauderdale, FL 33328
• Website: www.treeamigosgrowers.com
• Phone: 954-391-1077 and 786-343-5681
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/treeamigosgrowers/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TreeAmigosGrowers/

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